Category Archives: poetry

Lenten Day Twenty-nine:  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

March 18, 2024 “There may be worship without words.”  Longfellow This blog is a companion piece to Saturday’s, https://spirit-reflections.org/2024/03/16/lenten-day-twenty-eight-thomas-merton/, about the spiritual practice of being silent, of resting in the company of God/Universe/the Divine.  This time, though, I’m reflecting on Sunday worship services, for those of us who attend any kind of religious service.  HaveContinueContinue reading “Lenten Day Twenty-nine:  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow”

Lenten Sabbath Five: George MacDonald

March 17, 2024 Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! On this Sabbath day, here is a poem by George MacDonald (1824-1905), not an Irishman but a Scottish author, poet and Christian Congregational minister.  Interestingly, he was also an influential mentor of C. S. Lewis and is a figure in Lewis’ novel The Great Divorce. May your dayContinueContinue reading “Lenten Sabbath Five: George MacDonald”

Lenten Sabbath Four

March 10, 2024 Taking a break from Lenten meditations on this “mini-Resurrection” day as we await Easter Sunday, let’s breathe in Sabbath together. Blessings ~ Rosemary Wood Walking The end of January, the weight of pandemic and politics as heavyas blizzard snow, I take to the woods,down an empty pathmade by sojourners before me.The sky,ContinueContinue reading “Lenten Sabbath Four”

Lenten Day Twenty-five: George Santayana

March 9, 2024 “The world is not respectable; it is mortal, tormented, confused, deluded forever; but it is shot through with beauty, with love, with glints of courage and laughter; and in these, the spirit blooms.”  George Santayana On day twenty-five of Lent, this quotation comes from the front of a notecard my daughter sentContinueContinue reading “Lenten Day Twenty-five: George Santayana”

In Praise of Redbuds in the Rain

March 8, 2024 In Praise of Redbuds in the Rain Rain swirls in silver currents in the cul-de-sacthe wind pounding to be let inas it directs winter’s last bare hickoryand oak trees in a frenzieddance across a stage of gray.Sunshine is a myth buried behindswollen roiling banks of cloudson this late winter morning.Yet outside theContinueContinue reading “In Praise of Redbuds in the Rain”

Lenten Day Seventeen: Lectio 365 and Poem

March 1, 2024 “The desire to be like someone else is an impossible task, and not from God.” From the prayer app, Lectio 365. Lectio 365 is one of two prayer apps that I use and recommend to others. The other is Pray as You Go. Both apps come out of Great Britain, so theContinueContinue reading “Lenten Day Seventeen: Lectio 365 and Poem”

Lenten Day Fifteen: Persian Proverb

February 28, 2024 “This too shall pass.”  Persian proverb On this 15th day of Lent, I remember my mother.  Whenever I found myself in moments of illness, disappointment, frustration, discomfort, or worry, she would say, “This too shall pass.”  I don’t think she ever said, “I’m sorry, that must be tough,” or even, “Get overContinueContinue reading “Lenten Day Fifteen: Persian Proverb”

Lenten Day Thirteen: Mary Oliver

February 26, 2024 It is a serious thing just to be aliveon this fresh morningin the broken world. ~ Mary Oliver On this thirteen day of Lent, I stop to ponder why these particular lines from Mary Oliver’s poem, “Invitation,” touched me so much that I jotted them down and stuck them on my mirror. ContinueContinue reading “Lenten Day Thirteen: Mary Oliver”